Wire fabric



C. G. WILLIAMS June 28, 1938.

WIRE FIBRIC original Filed June so, 1955 INVENTOR `\\6`,L//1/wfs 6. W/L MMS BY \\\\\L\ v ATTORNEY Patented June 28, 1938 WIRE FABRIC y Charles G. Williams, American .Chain corporation of vNey;r York- June 30, '1933,7Serial No. .Z,039;617,11dated' `May `nd this application June 24, 8,1120. 4InwCanada January l2,2,

Fairfield, Conn., lassignor kto & Cable Company, Inc., a

ly endangeringl the Aoccu-y A cable w'ill not grip the s'v of the4 fabric type Yof ther than grip tion is a division of my Serial No. 678,321fl`ed 039,617, dated Improvements inwire y The present applica copending vapplication June 30, 1933, now P May 5, '1936, and relates to i 5 fabric4 adapted particularly for` use i guards for highways.

Highway guards w serve notm atent No. 2,

e present invention to pro- Videa third class of barrier which will combine the advantages of the other two and will at e their disadvantages;

d a barrier which will'yield o by stretch hen properly` constructed nne vehicles to thev highsafeguard vehicles from wreckage or o protect individuals from injury or this reason, the'guard or barrier of a type which will t of a vehicle without n `In other Words, ble of yielding to acert so as to bring l-Ithe same "time overcom thisend I have devise by 'structural deformation and als of the material of which it is composed.

A more specific object of the invention is to hich is composed of a plurality ose about and grasp hich fabric cannot so that after arresting htly concavi'tyfto an Abe taken upsby damage and t loss o'f life. For mustk whenever possi absorb the energy of impac serious injury to the ve provider afabric w of tension wireswhich will cl an impinging element, bu be narrowed under impact a vehicle ther be removed and vany yslackA c merely pulling the fabric Preferably YI ny improve f vertically spaced thebarrier must be capa under the limpac vehicle to a. comparativelyl gradual stop. 'The rier mayA safely n road conditions. tov providermuch extent to which the'bar stretchwill vary with different In some cases it is necessary less stretch of the barrier thanhin o as for instance, on-the edge o ment or bordering a bridge, yields too much the barrier and Heretofore there have been of non-rigid barriers First, by structural deform that provide practica results from elastic or perm material of which they a i In the first class bell ng sist of a broad strip of open ported on posts. of this type, it is caug The fabric is elongat by structural deformation (i. e. meshes), and offersfa yieldi causes a comparatively gradu However, the Adeforma act narrows the strip and 'produces a ag or corica'vity thereted. The Yonly way to e'will be no unsig d barrier yis composed bands of wire fabric nding in tensile strength 'to f the ordinary cable barrier,

d barrier the-cable is d into a flat ribbonof farzgreater width f the cable `there will be no and cut intd the f thus, in effect, flat band is thaty the at night. Furfor if the barrier the vehicle may dropv betweenv the edge of they roadway. two general classes barriers that yield second, barriers lly no yield except such as anent stretch of the each band correspo that of eachzcable o but 'since in my improve 'than the diameter o tendency for the band to slip Another advantage o spreading out a cable into a uch more conspicuous vnce there aref two spaced tension members there willfbe no pronounced bag .in the ybarrier-after an impact and the individual ribbons may be Ypulled up separately to restore the barrier to itsnormal, taut condition.`

A further object of the invention 1s va .barrier fabric with contiguous ytension .wires 'interwoven with 'warp wires orpickets so thata Aface' View .of the fabric shows ,substantially no .apertures therethrough, although an edge vview will show openings between thewarp Wires ateach Under impact these yopention of the .pickets the barriers which conmeshwire fabric suphicle strikes abarrier ht bythe vmeshes ofthe ed under theimpact by closing of the tance which al arrest of the Vetion of the fabric barrier is m thermore, s1

permanent and unsightly b in which cannot be ye'radica restore lthe barrier to its original form i out the deformed portion and replace itwith a new section.

. In the secondicl'ass'ibe of 'two lor more'cables strung on "p riers possess an advantage" first class inthat'they per the windy and will not'c trash, but they are so likely to check a vehicl vehicle strikes suc tend to ride `over -theside ofthe pickets. ings can close; only by 'deforma sion wires tend to lstraighten out from their normal sinuous form. vSuch deformation a'soccurs results in reducing thethickness ofthe fabricfrather vthan its width, because the contiguous relation ofthe rtension or 'Warp wires preventsnarrowing of the band.' lOther objects" and advantages .o

r inthe following description'of Ia .number 'of embodiments Vand there long" barriers osts; Suchbar- "barriers o'f the ittof a'clean sweep "of *ollectk snow, leaves yor lding that they yare too suddenly. Also, h a barrier the cables f `my invention chassis and cutinto the after thel novelty and scope of the invention will be pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing;

Figure 1 is a fragmental View in perspective of a barrier comprising a pair of tape-like tension members supported on a series of posts;

Fig. 2 is a fragmental side elevation of one of the tension members;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same;

Fig. 4 is a view in section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 2, showing how the longitudinal ele-v ments or warp wires of the tension members are tied together by a weft element;

Figs. 5 toI 10 inclusive are views in section similar to that shown in Fig. 4 but illustrating respectively different means for tying the warp wires together;

Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing a slightly modified form or tape-like tension member;

Fig. 12 is a view in section similar to Fig. 4, but showing a fabric formed with weft elements of half round wire; and

Fig. 13 is a view` in section taken on the line |3--I3 of Fig. 12.

As shown in Fig. 1 my highway guard comprises a series of posts 25 and a pair of metal bands 26 secured thereto and stretched therebetween. Any suitable means for fastening the bands to the posts may be employed. As illustrated the metal bands are clamped to the posts by means of clamping plates 4I which are fastened to the posts by lag screws 42.

Each band or tape-like tension. member 26 as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 comprises a plurality of longitudinal tension elements or warp wires 21 which are united at intervals by transverse pickets or weft wires 28 interwoven between the warp wires. The pickets are held in placeby bending them about the top and bottom warp wires, as indicated at 29 in Fig. 4.

A modification of the construction shown in Fig. 4 is illustrated in Fig. 5. Here the weft wires are doubled over and form loops 30 which embrace all the warp wires on one side of the shed, the opposite ends ofi the loop 30 lying Within the shed formed between the warp wires.

In the modification shown in Fig. 6 a picket 3| is used which lies wholly within the shed between the warp wires except at the top and bottom where it passes. about the top and bottom warp wires as indicated at 32.

When a vehicle strikes my improved barrier the warp wires act like fingers to close about and grasp the impinging parts so that the barrier will not slip and increase the hazards of the impact as will acable or a solid metal ribbon. While the grasping action is a favorable feature of the open mesh type of barrier there is this important difference that less deformation is possible with my barrier and such as doesl occur will be comparatively inconspicuous and will result in reducing the thickness of the fabric rather than its width.

In all of the structures so far described it will be noted that the warp wires are in contact one with another at the points where they cross, midway between the pickets. Hence, a face view of the fabric shows no openings therethrough, but when viewed edgewise, as in Fig. 3, openings appear between the warp wires at each side of each picket. Under an impact these openings may be closed by actual deformation of the pickets, somewhat after the manner indicated in Fig. 7, where the picket 33 is bent to a zig-zag or undulating form by tension of the warp wires. In other words, the fabric is flattened by the impact. If desired, the fabric may be made with pickets of the type shown in Fig. 7, so as to flatten the sinuosities of the warp wires and render the fabric less yielding and so that the pickets will aid in preserving the spacing of the warp wires. The undulations of the pickets form seats for warp wires and will maintain the warp wires against transverse displacement in the plane of the fabric even in cases where the warp wires are not contiguous.

There are various ways in which the weft wire 28 may be secured to the marginal warp wires 21. In Fig. 4, the loops 29 are substantially closed about the warp wires 21. In Fig. 8 each loop is extended so that it has a terminal portion 35 projecting between the marginal warp wire and the next adjacent warp wire. In the construction shown in Fig. 9, the weft wire is not only looped about the marginal warp wires but is also twisted around the body of the weft wire as indicated at 36 so as to provide a more secure hold of the weft wire upon the warp wire.

Fig.` 10 shows a still further modification in which the weft wire is formed with an S-shaped terminal portion 31 which is coiled about the marginal warp wire in one direction and then is passed in the opposite direction about the next adjacent warp wire. f

The modification shown in Fig. 11 is very similar toy that shown in Fig. 2, differing therefrom only in the fact that the marginal warp wires 38 are formed with indentations 39 at intervals and the weft wires are anchored to the marginal warp wires in these indentations. This fixes the marginal weft wires against longitudinal displacement but the intermediate wires may slip under impact to form a pocketabout the impacting part. The weft wires 4@ may be secured to the warp wires 38 in any of the various ways illustrated in Figs. 4 toI 10 inclusive.

Obviously, in the constructions shown in Figs. 2 to 11 inclusive the number and size of warp wires will determine the strength of the `barrier and will be proportioned to give a predetermined strength. The wires may be of round, halfrcund or rectangular section as desired. For example, in Figs. 12 and 13, I show a fabric which differs from that shown in,Figs..2, 3 and 4 only in the fact that it'is provided with pickets 153 of halferound stock. The pickets are thus of heavier cross-section per separation of warp wires, and because the pickets are flat on one side they may be more easily bent around the marginal warp wires as shown at 44.

I have described a numberof different forms of tape-like tension members which may be used in my improved highway guard or barrier. However, these are to be taken as illustrative and not limitative of my invention, and I wish it to be understood therefore that I reserve the right to make such changes in form and structure as fall within the spirit .and scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. A fabric of the character described comprising a plurality of contiguous round warp wires and a plurality of weft wires interwoven therewith, each weft wire being fixed at opposite ends thereof to the warp wires at opposite margins of the fabric.

2. A fabric of the character described comprising a plurality of contiguous round warp wires, a plurality of weft wires interwoven thereweft 'wires interwoven Aably supportI the with, certain of the Warp wires ,being fastened to the weft wires and others ofthe Warp Wires being free to slide lengthwise relatively to the weft wires. y l

3. A fabric of the character describedy comprising a plurality of warp wires, a plurality of therewith, certain of the warp wires being fastened to the weft Wires and being free to slide wires being'formed with lseats adapted to slidrelatively slidable warp wires against transverse displacement.

4. A fabric of prising a plurality of weft wires interwoven therewith, certain of the warp wires being fastened to the weft wires and lothers 'of the Warp wires being free to slide `lengthwise relatively to the weft wires, the weft wires being formed with permanent bends in the front and rear sides thereof to serve as seatswfor slidably supporting the relatively slidable warp wires against transverse displacement.

5. A fabric of the character described comprising a plurality of warp wires,V and a plurality of weft wires interwoven therewith, each weft wire being twisted in one direction about a marginal warp wire and in opposite direction about a second warp wire immediately adjacent the said marginal Warp wire.

theA character described comwarp' wires, a plurality of 6. yA fabric of the character described comprising a plurality of contiguous Warp Wires and a plurality of weft wires interwoven therewith, each weft wire being twisted in one direction about a marginal warp wire and in rection about a second warp wire immediately adjacent the said marginal warp wire.

'7. A fabric of the character described comprising a plurality of warp wires and a plurality of weft wires interwoven therewith, each weft wire being secured at each end thereof to a marginal warp wire, said marginal wires being indented at the points of attachment of the weft wires thereto, the intervening warp wires being free Vto slide longitudinally but not vertically with respect to the weft Wires.

8. A fabric of the character described comprising a plurality cf contiguous round warp wires and a plurality of weft wires interwoven therewith, each weft Wire being secured at each end thereof to a marginal warp wire, said marginal wires being indented at the points of attachment of the weft Wires thereto.

9. A fabric of the character described composed of warp wires and transverseweft wires interwoven therewith, each weft wire being of half-round stock and being looped about the warp Wires at lopposite margins of the fabric.

CHARLES G. WILLIAMS.

opposite d-r 

